William Harwood – Page 3 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX launches first all-international crew to space station

August 26, 2023 William Harwood

Running a day late, a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying a NASA commander, a Danish co-pilot, a Japanese astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut rocketed into orbit early Saturday and set off after the International Space Station for a six-month tour of duty.

Virgin Galactic flies its first space tourists

August 10, 2023 William Harwood

A mother and daughter from Antigua and Barbuda, along with an 80-year-old British Olympian who suffers from Parkinson’s, two pilots and a passenger escort rocketed out of the lower atmosphere and into space Thursday in Virgin Galactic’s first up-and-down sub-orbital flight featuring sight-seeing space tourists.

Russian cosmonauts make spacewalk at International Space Station

August 9, 2023 William Harwood

A cosmonaut took a test ride on the end of a European robot arm during a six-hour 35-minute spacewalk outside the International Space Station Wednesday amid work to install three micrometeoroid debris shields and relocate a work platform.

Artemis 2 astronauts get first look at their Orion moonship

August 8, 2023 William Harwood

NASA’s four Artemis 2 astronauts, getting their first look at the Orion capsule that will carry them around the moon next year, said seeing the hardware first hand and meeting the men and women building the spacecraft brought home the reality of their historic mission.

First piloted flight of Boeing’s oft-delayed Starliner spacecraft slips to at least March

August 8, 2023 William Harwood

The first piloted launch of Boeing’s oft-delayed Starliner crew capsule is slipping to next March at the earliest because of ongoing work to test and replace the capsule’s parachute system and to resolve issues with a flammable adhesive used in protective electrical tape, officials said Monday.

Cygnus cargo ship berthed at space station

August 4, 2023 William Harwood

An unpiloted Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship carrying four tons of supplies and equipment caught up with the International Space Station early Friday to wrap up a smooth two-and-a-half-day rendezvous.

Intelsat completes refresh of satellites with Falcon 9 launch of Galaxy 37

August 3, 2023 William Harwood

SpaceX launched an Intelsat communications satellite early Thursday, part of a fleet-wide refresh under a Federal Communications Commission push to free up transmission space for 5G cellular networks.

Ending an era, Europe launches its final Ariane 5 rocket

July 6, 2023 William Harwood

Europe’s venerable Ariane 5 rocket blasted off on its 117th and final flight Wednesday, successfully boosting two communications satellites into orbit but leaving the European space program without a large satellite launcher of its own until a delayed successor comes on line.

SpaceX launches European ‘dark energy telescope’ to help unravel cosmology’s biggest mysteries

July 1, 2023 William Harwood

The European Space Agency launched its $1.5 billion Euclid space telescope Saturday, an ambitious, first-of-a-kind attempt to pin down the nature of dark matter, an unknown material pervading the cosmos, and dark energy, the mysterious repulsive force that is speeding up the expansion of the universe.

Virgin Galactic launches its first commercial flight to space

June 29, 2023 William Harwood

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic launched its first commercial space flight Thursday, sending three Italian researchers, two company pilots and an astronaut trainer on a high-speed thrill ride to the edge of space aboard a winged rocketplane. The crew experienced about three minutes of weightlessness. Total time between air launch and landing: just under 14 minutes.